Abstract:
The work covered in this paper had the objective of
investigating key factors in single vane pump impeller blockage
using both CFD and experimental analysis. Single vane
centrifugal pumps can be found in wastewater applications,
where suspended solids, fibers and other flexible material can
build up on the pump impeller and cause blockage and failure.
It is in the pump manufacturer’s interest to design blockage
resistant components while still maintaining hydraulic
efficiency. Testing was conducted on a large variety of
centrifugal wastewater pumps at different operating points in a
purpose built test rig with suitable test material. A pump which
had varying blockage performance depending on operating
point was chosen for further study with CFD. Transient
simulations with the SA-DDES turbulence model were carried
out with the same operating conditions as in the experimental
analysis. CFD has been used to highlight flow features likely to
lead to such blockage, while experiments provided some insight
into the significance of certain key parameters. An analysis of
the CFD results showed a significant correlation between pump
blockage performance and radial velocity components within
the fluid domain, specifically in the impeller region. Sensitivity
to blockage was found to vary with the head required of the
pump. This sensitivity was further explained when applying the
hypothesis of the impact of velocity components on the
likelihood of pump blockage.
Description:
Papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Portoroz, Slovenia on 17-19 July 2017 .
